From Ladies' Days to Women's Initiatives: American Pastimes and Distaff Consumption

Abstract

American entrepreneurs have, for more than a century, sought to cultivate female consumers of national pastimes, specifically horse racing, boxing, baseball, football and basketball. Because these sports have been principally and historically associated with manliness and masculinity, it is more appropriate to think in terms of women's involvement and consumption, as opposed to their athletic participation when it comes to ‘pastime' status. Marketing campaigns aimed at women by the promoters of national pastimes reveal complex processes of commercialisation, bourgeoisification and hypercommodification. The ways in which major sports leagues and administrators appealed to women have long been based on essentialised feminine roles, treating women as moralising agents, wives and mothers, and consumers. These strategies represent the primary force in shaping women's inclusion in national pastimes. In turn, they have defined what it means to be a ‘female fan' in ways that normalise male fandom and position women's support for national pastimes as something different.